TERMINATING DOMAIN REGISTRATION

[Larry's 66 Diner]

To All Diner Members:

Effective April, 2014 (NEXT year), the domain name larrys66diner.com will likely cease to exist.  Hence, I will not likely pay the annual fee to keep this domain operable.  However, this does NOT mean the forum Larry's 66 Diner will cease to exist.  You will simply need to navigate to its root domain larrys66diner.proboards.com and update your browser's bookmarks accordingly.

I struggled with, and gave much consideration to, deleting and totally obliterating the Diner altogether; however, I have decided against taking that action.  But it IS pointless to pay the annual fee for the domain registration.

This decision has been based upon routine monitoring of Larry's 66 Diner forums and its traffic patterns.  Needless to say, I'm sure it's been noticed there is hardly ANY traffic to bother with.  Much of this is likely due to social media: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, et al.  I am no different than many others when it comes to the aforementioned mediums of communication.  There are some forums that seem to be unharmed by the popularity of social media, and for that, I applaud them.

So many times I tried "breathing life" back into Larry's 66 Diner, but to no avail.  I thought FOR SURE with the new V5 Proboards upgrade, as well as my own addition to other topic areas, that it might work.  But none of this helped either.  Larry's 66 Diner lacks a common theme.  Silent Movies? There are die-hard forums for that.  Route 66? There are forums for that.  Weight loss, calorie counts, and recipes?  Well, yeah, there are forums for that too.  And we don't even need to bring up the topic of high-resolution gaming sites on the internet!

What is Larry's 66 Diner? Can it be explained or defined?  It's a place where people socialize.  Yeah, but that's what Facebook is for.  And Facebook provides instant gratification for photo and video upload, which the Diner cannot provide without a monthly fee to purchase additional storage and attachment space.  Facebook offers all this for FREE because commercial sponsors pay that for us!  Facebook lets people do it all on the go as well, and so do other social network sites.

I've been away for several days at a time recently because there simply hasn't been any discussions going on.  I pop in and check the logins and see that the same few games have been going on, but most of the registered members have not logged in for weeks or months prior — even LONGER for many.  Still, no discussions.

It has pained me to reach this decision, but I have run out of ideas on how to keep the Diner going or what I can do to it to make it "jump out and grab" someone to appeal to them and make them want to settle in at the Lunch Counter for a bite to "eat" and idle chat.  I even created a Larry's 66 Diner group on Facebook, but something seems to be lacking.

With that in mind, the "OPEN" sign may be turned off, but the door will still be unlocked for weary travelers to pop in for a cup of Gladys' steaming hot coffee.

Larry

[Midge]

That's a shame, Larry, but I think you are correct that social media has made us obsolete, and we don't have a hook to reel new people in. The Diner has been a big part of my life for the past seven years, and I would be sad if it went away. So thanks for keeping the forum open via Proboards. Even if it's just us few "weary travelers," it's been worth it to me.

[Larry's 66 Diner]

I brought that to TC's attention yesterday, as well, and told her the same things I laid out here.  She agreed that it was a shame with all the efforts I'd put into it over the past several years.  I told her that's why I decided to NOT delete the Diner off the internet, because it was a big part of our lives at one time.  We met many great people here and we remain connected via Facebook or Twitter with some of them; many others are not, however.  Larry's 66 Diner was great for its time, but I just felt like I was "beating a dead horse" in trying to keep it going.  Perhaps I finally came out of denial, that it just wasn't moving forward.

Nonetheless, it just makes no sense to pay the annual fee (in fact, I even struggled with THAT for like the past TWO years) to keep the Diner on oxygen, when the EKG monitor kept indicating a "flat line".

I DO wish to say a great big "Thank You" to those who have been drinking Gladys' coffee with me all these years!  It has certainly been a pleasure sitting on the stool next to you and sharing chit-chat about whatever popped into our heads!  Gladys won't run out of coffee any time soon.

[spruance]

I regret to say that it is 'guilty as charged' as far as my own Diner visits are concerned.

Despite initial resistance to Facebook I finally gave in and now find that I spend a large part of every day there, although I really don't know why as that time is largely spent playing admittedly addictive but essentially pointless online games. That said I feel that there is still a place for (Proboards) forums, but it is just a question of juggling ones spare time to fit everything in.

I am still heavily into gardening although even my own gardening forum doesn't see much of me these days. I know only too well that a lot of time goes into running a forum such as the Diner and Larry and TC have devoted a great deal of their personal time towards running what has been - and still is - a great forum. 

So apologies for my long absences and I will try to visit more often than of late.

[Midge]

Thank you for checking in, Brian. I miss you, and I miss seeing all your great photos! I didn't realize you had your own forum. I'm not a gardener, but I will drop in and visit. And I join you in thanking Larry and TC for all their hard work over the years. It would be nice to see more of you here, but I understand if you are not able to spend as much time here as you used to. I'm on Facebook too, but so far I have resisted all the games because I'm afraid they'd take over my life.

[Roger Thornhill]

This is all very sad indeed but I hope that the Diner will be here for the foreseeable future. A big thanks to Larry for all the work put in to the site over the years it certainly is much appreciated.

[robin]

Go back to what it was like 5 or 6 years ago. Going down that whole twitter stuff, which I am proudly not a participant in, was not a good idea.

But I really hope that this site stays extant, because although I've been away for numerous reasons - largely due to my health - I've always enjoyed visiting here.

And silent movies being a thing of the past? They are on the rise!

[Midge]

Robin, it's good to see you! I am sorry to hear that you've had health problems, but I hope you are getting better. And yes, silent movies are attracting new fans all the time, especially now that we have the technology to restore them so they look the way they did when they were new.